To Summer, and Beyond

I’ve said this before, but I reeeeeally hate summer. The heat tends to make me cranky and sluggish and unmotivated—and for someone like me, who has a pretty glaring inability to sit down/focus/actually work for any length of time in the best of conditions, the last thing I need is to become even more unmotivated. My creative output has a habit of coming to a screeching halt in the summer, and in a year that’s already seen spotty work from me at best…yeah, not good. To combat the heat-induced lethargy, I’m coming up with a game plan now (on what’s likely one of the last non-sweltering days of the month) and getting a jump-start on new projects while I feel up to the task.

Before I talk about what’s coming, let’s recap the last few weeks.

Story a Day May: The Stats

Stories Written: 24Stories Completed: 22Days Skipped: 7

SaDM was a pretty fruitful venture, all things considered. I actually surprised myself with a few of the pieces I churned out—rough and unfinished as they are, they showed potential for growth and expansion. Keeping myself limited to one hundred words reminded me that the most interesting stories aren’t necessarily the most verbose; I can actually do a lot in a very small space, if I choose my words carefully.

That said…I’m taking the opposite word count approach for July. More on that in a bit.

BookCon 2017

Guys…BookCon was uh-MAZING. I went to as many panels as time permitted, wandered the show floor, spent more money than I should’ve (books! totes! TOO MUCH TEMPTATION!), got a surprising amount of free stuff, and met a bunch of lovely readers and writers throughout the weekend. I took a ton of notes during the panels, and came home inspired and energized.

Don’t laugh. No, I mean it—don’t laugh. If you’ve followed my blog for awhile (and/or you know me personally) you know that I have a really bad habit of swearing that I’m going to participate in Camp Nanowrimo, deciding that I hate the story less than a week in, and giving up on the whole endeavor with a nonchalant “better luck next summer” every time. Well…this is not like those times. Really. No, really. Shut up.

My word count goal is set at the default 50K (see? told you that I was going for the exact opposite of 100 words a day), which will likely get me close to the halfway point of the draft, and my goal is to have a completed rough draft by the end of August. After that? Edits in September, and searching for beta readers for the first time ever. Second edits, etc. I want this manuscript in decent shape by January, and if I like it I’ll start shopping it around.

Hopefully.

(God help me.)

As always, I’m going to blog my way through the prep process because…eh, why not? I’m having a lot of fun developing a ridiculous concept and watching it slowly become an even more ridiculous story, and that alone is worth documenting. It’s been awhile since I’ve actually had fun while writing, and the enjoyment I’ve felt so far—even with the more difficult elements (plotting the dreaded Middle, for instance)–feels like a long-overdue return to form.

In short: more blogging, this summer. Maybe a few short stories posted, if I choose to expand on some of my drabbles from May. Definitely Camp Nanowrimo.